


A Throne of Red

by Yen



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Ben Solo Lives, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Reylo, Dark Side Rey, Drama, Empress Rey, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:47:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22946506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yen/pseuds/Yen
Summary: After watching Ben fall to his death, Rey gives herself over to the Dark side in her grief and rage.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 84
Collections: Writing Rainbow Red





	A Throne of Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [syrupwit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrupwit/gifts).



She was dying. Rey knew that in her bones. 

Her life force was draining out of her - hers and Ben's, being sucked away to power Palpatine. Rey's vision was becoming blurry around the edges, shot through with fuzziness and white light, her throat closing up as she gasped for breath. She clawed at the air, futilely struggling like a desert-skink speared to a rock, kicking feebly as Palpatine lifted both of them into the air with the power of the Force. 

Through her darkening vision, she saw Palpatine's ruined, twisted face split into a grin. He met Rey's eyes, sneering as he crooked his finger, and Ben was lifted through the air, pulled in close towards him. 

The sight of Ben writhing in pain made Rey's heart wrench. Cold horror seized within Rey's chest as Palpatine cackled, "As once I fell, so falls the last Skywalker!" 

With a flick of his finger, Ben was flung far, far away, cast down into the fathomless abyss behind her. 

For a moment, Rey was frozen in shock. 

No one could have survived a fall like that. _No one._

Desperately, Rey reached out through the Force, grasping for the familiar presence of Ben in the back of her mind. Rey could feel their Force bond strain, then - 

_Nothing._

Rey shrieked. A scream of agony tore free from her lips, a horrified cry of denial that she could barely even recognise as coming from herself, so much more animal than human it was in its grief. 

_"No!"_

_Ben… Ben…_

Blinding, red-hot rage welled up from somewhere deep within her, torrent after torrent of hate and fury that seemed to flow without end. She shrieked again, high-pitched and crazed.

Then, it was as if the aches and pains throbbing through her body just moments ago miraculously melted away. Power that she had never felt before surged through her veins. _Unimaginable_ power. Lightning crackled at the ends of her fingertips, and it was agony where the sparks forced themselves out from beneath her skin, but the physical pain was as nothing compared to the maelstrom of grief roaring within her. 

"Yes, yes! Let the hate flow through you - "

With a feral snarl and a flick of her thumb, Rey ignited her lightsaber and swung it in a low, wide arc. What Palpatine was about to say was cut off mid-sentence as Rey struck him down with all of her hatred, her lightsaber cleaving the risen Emperor cleanly in two.

* * *

Everything hurt. Each forward step that Ben took sent a jolt of pain through his entire body. He had to have broken something. Broken ribs, maybe, and there was probably internal bleeding as well. 

He didn’t care about the pain. He had to get to Rey, before -

But it was already too late. He had sensed it when he was down in the pit, struggling to pull his broken body out of the abyss. He had felt Rey Fall, felt the taint of the Dark side filter across the dyad, felt her give in to the darkness within her as she unleashed incandescent, passionate rage. The shock and horror that had seized Ben then had given him renewed strength to strain his muscles to the breaking point, and with renewed fervour, he had desperately pulled himself up, clawing his way out of the pit on torn and bloody fingernails. 

He had to save her, from herself this time.

“Rey,” Ben forced out, in a broken voice barely above a whisper. Blood dripped down from his leg in a steady trickle, leaving red blooms on the white dust flats of Exegol.

He was close enough to see her now, a small, slight figure silhouetted against the Sith throne. At the sight of her, Ben inhaled sharply. His heart jolted, a hard, painful thump in his chest.

Slowly, Rey turned her head towards him. 

Her face was pale and gaunt, her cheekbones shockingly prominent in her small, delicate face. And her _eyes -_ they were no longer the warm dark brown he remembered, but were now bright and cold, glowing with a sickly yellow gold. 

Even Snoke had never looked at him like that. 

"Rey," Ben whispered again. It was a pained, choked sound, his voice wet with the blood pooling in his lungs. 

A slow, dark smile spread across Rey’s face, sharp with teeth and cruel delight. 

Rey crooked her finger towards him, in a gesture so painfully reminiscent of what Palpatine had done just now that Ben’s heart gave another small, painful throb. Abruptly, Ben was dragged forward again, his feet lifting off the ground as Rey pulled him towards her.

“Please -”

Rey raised a hand, and whatever words Ben was going to say next died on his lips as she captured them in a bruising, searing kiss. The breath left his lungs in a sigh as Rey touched the side of his face with a cold, pale hand. His broken body began to piece itself together, his mortal wounds miraculously knitting themselves shut as dark Force surged through their joined bodies.

Above them, the Resistance fleet burned. But Rey only had eyes for him. 

Just as he had always wanted.


End file.
